


the coffee slut and the tea wench

by heibai



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - High School, Coming of Age, Fluff, M/M, just so much fluff i'm sorry, mark is a glorified passing cameo, smol lil gheys, the making of the 00 liners gang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-05 11:10:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11576868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heibai/pseuds/heibai
Summary: Huang Renjun hates coffee with a passion.But Renjun kindda have thisthingfor Lee Jeno for as long as he could remember, and as everyone knows, Jeno is the self proclaimed number one coffee connoisseur in the whole world.Thankfully for Renjun, unlike coffee, loving Jeno is not an acquired taste.





	1. the Connoisseur

Huang Renjun hates coffee with a passion. He hates the taste, he hates the colour, he hates how the smell would get stuck in his nasal cavities and everything he eats afterwards would slightly have that pungent coffee tinge to it.

 

But Renjun kindda have this _thing_ for Lee Jeno for as long as he could remember and as the whole school knows, Jeno is the self proclaimed number one coffee slut in the whole world. He’d much prefer the title coffee _connoisseur_ , but well, the sad truth is most kids in his year can’t even _spell_ connoisseur so...

 

Coffee slut it is.

 

“God, I don’t know what happened with the bio quiz. Didn’t they say it won’t include anything from chapter eight? Why was there a question about the… crab cycle… crep? Or whatever you call those unoxygenated things.”

 

In the small coffeeshop right across the street to their high school, Jeno was regarded as their unofficial mascot. Their warden. Their ghostly, _is here on sunday mornings_ haunting. There was an unspoken rule of _‘the corner booth is Lee Jeno’s property from 3pm to 5pm’_ that even though usually the cafe was jam packed with kids freshly out of their extracurricular activities, they would always find the coveted seat empty for them to sit in.

 

“They did say it though,” Renjun quickly turned the disgusted grimace after he took a sip of the potent americano into a grin when he noticed that Jeno was staring at him with a disbelieved look on his face.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

Renjun shrugged his shoulder to that. He did tell Jeno about it so it wasn’t technically his fault that he wasn’t listening. Although, Renjun’s decision to tell him the information while he was busy playing a round of one of his mobile phone games was still sort of problematic.

 

“So, what do you want to discuss today?” Renjun didn’t even realise that something was off with the situation he was in until after he got all his textbooks and notebooks and other… books out from his backpack and spread all over the table. Jeno was looking at him. Wait, no, looking was an understatement. Jeno was _staring_ him down with a little pout on his lips.

 

“Can we skip bio today? I’m kiiiindda sick of it.”

 

Renjun let out a tired sigh when the implication caught up with him, “you know I’m bad with math, I can’t help you with tomorrow’s homework I’m,-”

 

Jeno easily cut his words short when he suddenly whipped out their school library’s rundown edition of W. W. Jacob’s _‘the Monkey’s Paw’_. “Let’s discuss this,” Jeno said, the gleam of excitement coming off a little bit too bright. Even though Renjun wanted to use this session to redeem his mistake for leading Jeno away from the well groomed path of _‘highschool success’_ , Renjun was ashamed that it took him less than a minute of not-so-hard contemplation before giving in and helping Jeno go through the list of question for their English class.

 

Because subtly sabotaging someone else’s school grade just for the chance of getting to tutor them should _not_ be legal. To be fair, the quiz only counts as 1% to the final grade so honestly, it won’t be that big of a deal, in contrary to Jaemin’s reaction after Renjun told him the story later in the day.

 

“WHAT KIND OF EVIL ARE YOU,” he looked at Renjun as if he did an unforgivable sin. Starting the third world war, hiding the fact that he’d found the cure for cancer, farting in a train carriage during rush hour.

 

“It’s only 1 point out of a hundred. Chill.” Donghyuk chimed in from the back of the room while he was lying on Renjun’s bed, the plastic takeaway cup still half-filled with stale coffee hanging precariously between his lips. Renjun had told him to _not_ touch his bed with any part of his body until he finished the drink, but Donghyuk being Donghyuk, of course he didn’t listen.

 

(It was the unfinished cup of coffee from his study session with Jeno. Donghyuk repeatedly begged him to just call it for what it really is, a _date_ , but Renjun felt like dying everytime he heard that word and he was certain it was not caused by the caffeine spike he always suffer through after each one of those… study dates.)

 

“But what if he got his report card and see ‘64’ for his biology? _Then_ 1 point is no longer _chill_ , isn’t it?” Wasn’t long before the two of them were locked in a back-and-forth banter about how Jaemin should probably calm down for a bit and how Donghyuk should care more for a change.

 

Renjun was feeling slightly burned from the long school day, the rows of integral homework staring at him, and the low sizzling of anxiety from his caffeine withdrawal that he dejectedly sighed out the thing he knew Jaemin wanted to hear. “I won’t do it again, I’m sorry.” He needed Jaemin to calm down enough to resume his explanation for question number 8 because after that at least they can call it a day and proceed to continue the round of basketball at the nearby park.

 

“You’re no fun.” Donghyuk slurped the last drops of his coffee before attempting to throw the paper cup to the dustbin right beside the desk. He missed. And he also caused a few droplets of coffee to fly all over the place where a some of them land on Renjun’s math workbook.

 

It only took one very intimidating look from Renjun to send Donghyuk scurrying off to find a paper towel.

  


_ _ _ _ _

  
  


Renjun is more of a tea person. Wait no, not _more_ , because it implies that he sort of enjoyed coffee even if it’s only for a small fraction. He _is_ 100% a tea person. If Jeno is a coffee slut, then Renjun is a tea wench.

 

He even make his morning tea in a legitimate teapot. He did make it for his whole family, but still. A porcelain _teapot_. What an overkill.

 

“Just tell him you don’t like coffee!” Jaemin sounded so exasperated when he finally decided that Renjun’s early morning whines and moans were too much for him. All he wanted was to enjoy the last few minutes of freedom before they set their feet in _hell_ but Renjun would not shut up, “it’s not that hard, isn’t it?”

 

It should _not_ be hard in theory. But in action, Jeno was always the one who bought their drink and Renjun has no balls to tell him that he does not have, in the slightest, a penchant for c o f f e e.

 

“He’ll hate me,” Renjun latched onto Jaemin’s backpack before he shook his arms in frustration. He needed his friend to feel the turbulence in his heart. Physically.

 

“If he hates you only because of your drinking preference, then I won’t ever approve him to be anything more than your study buddy.” There was a short pause before Jaemin continued on, “even a study buddy will be too much of a stretch, if I say so myself.”

 

Renjun was just about to let out a rebuttal for Jaemin’s opinion when someone rushed from behind them and gave them a firm shove on the back.

 

Both Jaemin and Renjun easily came to the conclusion that it couldn’t be Donghyuk, because if Lee Donghyuk ever turn up to school this early, they speculated it would cause a butterfly effect that’ll lead to global annihilation of mankind come the next day. And so Renjun waited until he could see the face of the culprit before he risked swearing out to anyone he does not want to be caught swearing by.

 

“Morning!” His patience proved to be a good decision because lo and behold, it was Jeno himself.

 

“Hiiiiiii,” it was too early and too sudden of a moment for Renjun to instantly dial down his obsession to the kid standing in front him, that he could only stare at him with an uncomfortably wide smile while he was desperately nudging Jaemin to come and save the day.

 

And he did, thank god. By engaging Jeno in mindless _‘have you done the homework for pure maths?’_ type of conversation, he gave Renjun at least around 10 seconds to do one of his deep breathing exercises so he could go back to acting like a high functioning human.

 

Which was why he didn’t understand _why_ Jaemin would undermine his efforts by stealing the thermos from his backpack and shoving it right to Jeno’s face. After taking a quick drink out of it himself first, of course.

 

“Wanna take a sip?”

 

Renjun shook his head in panic and tried his best to stop Jaemin from handing over the bottle and to stop Jeno from receiving it because somehow, in his mind, he had this theory that people who are so radically slated at one end of the spectrum would hate the only other option with a passion. Just like him and coffee, for example. And he didn’t know if he could live in a world where Jeno hates even a single aspect of him. Especially if that aspect is _his love for tea_.

 

But Jeno ignored him, took a big gulp out of the warm tea inside his thermos and Renjun was surprised when his face did not show any sign of disgust or rejection as he handed the bottle back to Jaemin.

 

“Tastes great,” he gave Renjun what he always describe to Jaemin and Donghyuk as _the smile._ The smile that can launch a thousand ships, the smile that caused him to get 5 valentine chocolates from year 12 girls back when he was still a year 10 newbie, clueless kid. He nudged Jaemin’s arm once more during the course of _the smile,_ a silent reminder for him to notice and record this phenomenon because later, Renjun would give him an exhaustive quiz about how amazing it was and how great it made him feel.

 

(He would be slightly upset when later that day, Jaemin answered his questions with a simple ‘yes’ and ‘no’ because _excuse me, I’m not infatuated with Lee Jeno, unlike you. So no, I don’t think that he’s the descendant of Helen of Troy._ )

 

“See?” Jaemin whispered to him as he slipped the thermos back to its place, “not so bad, isn’t it?”

 

It slightly was, though, because his theory was disproven. Jeno likes tea, and that fact only makes him feel even more _shit_ for hating coffee.

  


_ _ _ _ _

  


“Renjun,” the familiar sound coming from within the periphery of his attention slowly brought him back from his boredom induced daydream.

 

Although, his attention was back and alert alright, that it even sent him into a tiny shock, when he found the subject of his daydream sitting right in front of him while holding two takeaway coffee cups.

 

“Sorry, did I surprise you?” The last thing Renjun ever wants to happen was getting caught daydreaming by the wrong people because those who are close to him had told him: he does not look… that great when he daydreams (aka he would sometimes drool). But a frantic swipe of the back of his hand across the corner of his lips proved that no saliva was produced during his wait while Jeno was away somewhere, getting their usual study beverage before they go and tackle the dreaded chapter eight of biology.

 

“Nah, no worries I’m good.” He saw the tiny smile on Jeno’s lips sort of grew into something wider as he dug around his bag for his textbook, but Renjun took it in the worst case possible, which means the thought of _‘oh god Jeno thinks I’m weird’_ was swimming around his brain while mixed together with explanation of the difference between NADH and NAD+.

 

They found themselves huddling in the mostly deserted school cafeteria not because their usual cafe was closed or in renovation or something. Worse, Renjun got there and saw Donghyuk sitting on their corner booth with his entourage of football club kids.

 

“The hell are you doing here.” Renjun hissed to his ears a bit too hard that Donghyuk had to push him off and wipe the spit from his earlobe.

 

“Club meeting!” His hand still clutching and pulling incessantly at Donghyuk’s arm meant that his navigation out of the crowded sofa was not an easy ordeal. Not like Renjun would ever make it so anyway.

 

“This is _my_ spot.” Renjun was never portrayed, or even assumed, to be a kid with a fiery temper. But he was sure after that day there would be a lot of gossip surrounding him and his _‘anger management problem’_ in the sports club circle. Courtesy of Donghyuk, of course.

 

“Dude, it’s a public space. You don’t own this shit?” Donghyuk proceeded to grab him on his shoulder and in return dragged him to the other side of the room. Which was a weird thing in the first place because it was so not like Donghyuk for sparing his best friends of a lifetime of embarrassing moments. The usual Donghyuk would tease Renjun in front of everybody until either A. Renjun grew tired and left the spot or B. the world ends. “Look, ok, I’m trying to impress some new kids by taking them to a fancier place than the egg pancake shop.”

 

“This is the middle of the school year. What the hell are you talking about.” Renjun was not at all  fazed by Donghyuk’s palpable desperation. In fact, he was so amused by it that he’d begun to laugh out when realisation hit him. “Who is it?”

 

Donghyuk panicked and motioned him to shut up before a loud calling of his name caused the boy to turn around and answer back in a very uncharacteristically civilised manner.

 

“Mark? From 12-C?”

 

So here they were, on a deserted cafeteria, studying biology. The last group of students had just booked out of the place and that means only them and three DS playing kids were left.

 

“Yeah. I can’t believe it myself.” Donghyuk did ask Renjun to swear over his own life that he won’t ever, _ever_ tell anyone about it. _“Not even Jaemin?”_ _the short pause that followed his hesitant ‘yes’ was all of the information that Renjun needs. “He already knew, doesn’t he?”_

 

But Jeno doesn’t even hang around any football kids so Renjun figured telling him won’t be that big of a breach in their agreement.

 

“Isn’t Mark, uh…” From the way Jeno took a quick glance at the Nintendo groupies and how he leaned in slightly across the bench, Renjun knew where the conversation was going, “isn’t he straight?”

 

But even if he _knew_ where the conversation was going, Renjun was still stupid enough to take a sip from his cup that the shock of his realisation that _‘holy shit this is really happening’_ caused him to slightly send a bit of the liquid dirt up his nose.

 

“I don’t think Donghyuk will care much even if that’s the case,” he quickly answered after the coffee-up-my-nose thing was resolved.

 

He wanted to add, _‘same as me’_ to the end of his sentence but that’ll be plain stupid. It’ll only make him look like he likes the 12-C kid, which he doesn’t. And oh, it will also you know, make it super obvious that Renjun is 100% _not_ straight, which is not something he wants to brandish around if there’s a chance that Jeno is even in the slightest bit _discomforted_ when discussing about _that_ topic.  

 

Because unlike Donghyuk who by this point was only one rainbow jacket with the words _“I am gay”_ embroidered at the back in capital letters away from showing in which direction he swings, Renjun regards himself as a person with a little bit more… reservations.

 

And he does not even know where Jeno stands in the spectrum, which actually acts as the source of his many late night lamentations to both Donghyuk and Jaemin.

 

_“What if he’s straiiight,” his sobbings were muffled by the bear plushie on Donghyuk’s bed. Shocking, that out of them three, it was Donghyuk who still keeps childhood memorabilias around._

 

_“Then you’re fucked.” Donghyuk’s statement was capped by a loud yell after Jaemin hit his arm with a game controller._

 

 _“I don’t think he is though,” his gaming seemingly not bothered by that small interruption he just did, Jaemin didn’t even take his eyes from the action on the TV screen when he gave Renjun his consolations, “don’t you remember last year’s halloween party? That costume is_ definitely _not straight.”_

 

_Of course Renjun remembered the halloween party, when Jeno walked through the cheaply decorated school entrance wearing a full black garb with his leather pants and his tight shirt and his messy hair and messy eyeliners and messy fake blood all around his mouth, and how Renjun had to use Jaemin as his make-shift crutch for the rest of the night because he’d fallen and he couldn’t seem to find a way to get back up._

 

_“He might just be a metrosexual hipsteeeeeer.”_

 

_“Yeah Jaemin, you homist.”_

 

 _“The_ fuck _is a homist.”_

 

From the way Jeno was looking at him throughout the conversation, Renjun saw more of an _‘inquisitive’_ than _‘uncomfortable’_ so at least he could sleep easy that night.

 

After a while, Renjun thought Jeno’s silence meant that they’ve reached the end of the topic and they were back to cell respiration mode. Which was why his next question caught Renjun so out of left field it felt like he was physically hit by a speeding baseball. “Have you ever think about those things?”

 

There was no liquid left in Renjun’s mouth but why was he sounding like he was choking on water? “What… what things.”

 

“You know… _your sexuality._ ”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I've forgotten what made me write this in the first place (I think it's a line from 0 mile or something) but now I've fallen deeply in love with these bunch of kids and... yes. Wish me luck LOL


	2. the Authoritea

Okay. At seventeen years old, it is perfectly normal for questions about one’s own sexuality to eventually come up. And a good friend should ideally provide an open and accepting ears to listen and maybe give some comforting feedbacks. But at that moment, Renjun only felt the urge to jump on the table and slap his hand over Jeno’s mouth while shouting _’LALALALALA’_ at the top of his lungs. Because he was not ready for this. He was _so_ not ready for this. And the caffeine spike that’d hit him like a train right at that moment was just another factor that weighs in on why he was so so _so not ready for this_.

 

Renjun could tell that it took Jeno a lot of courage to spout out his earlier question, as he was rendered into nothing more but an anxious mess riddled with a ton of nervous ticks. Tapping his pen on his textbook, twirling his hair around his fingers, _biting his lips._

 

And it took Renjun a whole entire dumptruck of self control to keep himself from screaming out _‘ my sexuality is you’_ because frankly, that’ll be embarrassing as hell.

 

“Some… sometimes,” after a few futile attempts of swallowing the non-existent phlegm that was blocking his windpipe, Renjun managed to choke out a little _white lie_ of his. How can it be _sometimes,_ when everytime Jeno walks or talks or simply interacts with him, his mind would be filled with a really faint choir of chipmunks that chanted _‘I’m so gay, I’m so gay, I’m so gay.’_

 

The edges of his textbook (page 75, he’ll remember that number for the rest of his life) was practically pulped from how much he’d rolled it around his fingers. It was no surprise for him then, when he accidentally ripped almost an eighth of the page after Jeno continued on with his questionings. The page was simply not a match to his mounting nervousness.

 

“And?”

 

 _‘And? AND??? What sort of answer do you expect me to give to ‘AND’?!’_ Honestly, one more of his questions and Renjun will probably melt. Literally. His face and neck have heated up so much that if they were living inside a world with looney tunes physics, there would already be two pillars of smoke rising from his ears.

 

“What do you think?” Renjun was surprised when he saw the tip of Jeno’s pen entering his field of vision that’s been permanently trained to the pages of his textbook since the beginning of their conversation, before he gave Renjun’s fidgeting fingers a few rapid taps with it. He knew perfectly well what that means. Jeno wanted Renjun to look up, gave him his deserved attention, and _‘stop reading things off the textbook, explain it to me’_ sort of thing.

 

He did so, eventually, with much struggle and after gathering enough encouragement from the voice in his head screaming to him that ‘ _this is your chance, you stupid bimbo’._ Renjun picked his gaze up from the table and he almost let out an audible whimper when he saw the nervous, giddy grin and something akin to _I’m-feeling-a-bit-reckless_ spark on Jeno’s face.

 

“I… uh… I think I,-”

 

“WHAT’S UP NERDS?!”

 

There was a legitimate five seconds moment of stasis between Jaemin’s hand hitting his back so hard Renjun coughed out whatever air was left inside his lungs and someone (probably Jeno, most likely Jeno, because Renjun’s brain was most definitely still in the process of booting up from the shock he got) returning Jaemin’s greetings.

 

“I didn’t interrupt anything, right?” To the familiar tone of very poorly disguised teasing, usually Renjun would give Jaemin a firm serving of elbow to the ribs. Only, that afternoon, his mentality was already singed to its roots that Renjun could only respond with a few rapid shake of his head.

 

“Soooooo are you still up for game night or what?”

 

It was the second time after the start of _‘the conversation’_ that Renjun’s gaze met with Jeno’s and he was hoping, he was trying to convince himself that he saw what he’d coined as a _‘don’t go yet’_ look. A bit more intense than when Renjun had to wrap up their study session because Donghyuk would not stop calling him to ask where he was, but not too much that he’d willingly kick Jaemin off his back, climb across the table, and tell him, _‘yes, I’ll stay with you forever.’_

 

“We’re still not done?” The pitch of his voice went up at the end of his question, so that there was a long whine that accompanied the shrugging of his shoulders. It was Renjun’s way of giving Jeno a very _very_ vague hint that if he wants him to stay, he was willing.

 

The speed of his back hunching in disappointment when Jeno smiled at Jaemin and told him that, “naaaah, we’re done. You can have him,” was admirable. And pitiful too, at the same time.

 

“I did interrupt something, didn’t I.” Hey, at least Jaemin sounded a little bit guilty when he was walking beside the pouting Renjun, who just finished trying to pack his books and pencil case as slow as he could but still completed everything in under 10 seconds nevertheless.

 

“I _almost_ came out to him.” Although, now that he’d stepped out from the bubble of blinding anxiety, Renjun realised that maybe it was a good thing that they were interrupted. He felt that the sort of special occasions such as ‘coming out of the damn closet’ (especially to one’s crush) should take place in a more significant location and not in a… deserted school cafeteria.

 

Not that normal occasions are a bad thing. His coming out story with Donghyuk was so underwhelming it’d became a running inside joke between them.

 

_“Oh god look at him,” Donghyuk shoved his phone to Renjun’s face, where it was showing a screenshotted picture of a topless Chris Pine._

 

_Renjun gave it a thorough look, took a very audible gulp, and returned the phone back to Donghyuk._

 

_“Same.”_

 

_It took Donghyuk quite some time before the hidden meaning of Renjun’s response registered. Honestly, it took him almost five minutes. But when it finally happened, Donghyuk let out a really loud yell before he leaped from his position on the floor, tackling Renjun on his bed while he practically cackled out his sense of relief._

 

“Oh shiiiiiiiit I’m sorry.”

 

Renjun appreciated Jaemin’s sincere apology but the rice has turned to a bowl of porridge and he did not want to talk about it anymore. At least not so soon. And thus, he threw a surefire bait that he knew Jaemin will instantly bite and chew before he regurgitate it out and do it all over again like cows do with their cud.

 

“So, Donghyuk and that Mark boy. Tell me everything.”

 

And indeed, Renjun didn’t need to open his mouth again for the rest of their walk back home. Not only that, he also gained a lot of blackmail-worthy information regarding Donghyuk’s own crush-situation. Killing two birds with one stone.

  


__ _ _ _ __

  
  


They were playing a round of Mario Kart with a side of tirelessly teasing a very pissed, but very happy, he couldn’t hide it however hard he tried, Donghyuk when Renjun’s phone buzzed inside his back pocket.

 

_‘Hey.’_

 

It was Jeno. He never only texted with a _‘hey’._ He’s a long texter. He’s the type that will send a wall of text even though they were texting using a chat app that doesn’t use a pay-per-send thingy that SMS does.

 

Renjun was waiting for the _‘Jeno.L is typing’_ to stop flashing at the bottom corner of the window so he could send him his own version of a _‘Hi’_ (even though he could’ve done it right then and there, but it’s been a minute since he first read the message and he felt like it would be really awkward for him to suddenly send a _Hi_ , one minute after he read a message).

 

Just when he was about to give up and put his phone down, thinking that Jeno was sending him a set of questions about the chapter that they didn’t get to discuss earlier, it once again buzzed.

 

_‘I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable earlier.’_

 

The fact that Jeno’s second sentence was so short, and he took so long to write it, the _fact_ that Jeno was struggling to find the right word to say to him caused Renjun to feel a sharp pang of _holy shit_ right onto his heart. A good kind of holy shit, of course.

 

_‘Nooo nonono it’s okay.’_

 

He hit send, threw his controller to Jaemin’s expecting hands and quickly rushed out of the room to get some privacy (although Renjun knew, from the snicker Jaemin was giving him, that _he knew_ ), and quickly added,

 

_‘I thought I was the one who made you uncomfortable.’_

 

_‘  :’)  ‘_

 

It was only an emoticon, but it was enough to cause a really disgustingly high pitched squeal to come out of Renjun’s grinning mouth. He already over reacted so much to a crying/smiley face that when the next wall of message went into his phone, he was practically choking with his own saliva.

 

 _‘BTW, are you free tomorrow afternoon?_  
_There’s this new cafe near the city and I was wondering if you’ll go with me and help me write a review for the place?_  
_You know, as a second opinion.’_

 

It was almost magical how calm Renjun sounded on his reply. How he managed to only give him a simple,

  


_‘Yes, I’m free.’_

  


When in reality, he was dashing around Jaemin’s kitchen like a restless road runner.

  


_‘No game session with the gang?’_

  


Renjun had to quickly delete his all capslock statement of ‘SCREW THE GANG’ and exchanged it with a more respectable,

 

_‘No lolol.’_

  


_‘Great then!_ _  
_ _See you after school :)’_

  


He only skimmed through Jeno’s reply, making use of his years flipping through classic literature novels to decypher what the word _‘great’_ and _‘see you’_ meant for what was waiting for him tomorrow, before barging back into Jaemin’s room with both arms thrown up in the air.

 

“GUESS WHO JUST ASKED ME OUT.”

 

Renjun was upset when the only response he got for his big news was Donghyuk yawning and Jaemin shrugging in disinterest. “Takes him long enough.”

 

But that was great. Their lukewarm response meant that they did not have the right to protest when Renjun dived to their laps and thrashed around like he was a fish out of water. Or an olympic freestyle swimmer. Or a dying worm.

 

He was a little bit too happy to realise the implication of Jeno’s invitation. (It’s a _daaaate_ , Donghyuk exasperatedly moaned. But Renjun was afraid of jinx-ing it by calling it the _d_ word, that he insisted on saying that it was an _invitation._ Besides, he was still not really sure if Jeno was indeed hinting that he’s interested in _the_ _d,_ or if his 30 minutes long rant and dissection of their earlier conversation was based on nothing more but his wishful thinking.)

 

Coffee. He will have to drink lots and lots and _lots of coffee._

  


_ _ _ _ _

  


Renjun didn’t know what caused him to end up in a situation like this. Sitting across from Jeno in this dimly lit, new and hip cafe, staring silently at the fancy swirls of what he speculated was supposed to be rosettas on his cappuccino milk froth. This was his _third_ cup of coffee for the day.

 

First there was a straight up espresso, which he downed in one gulp as he pretended that it was nothing more but a cough medicine.

 

Then there was a cup of long black. Jeno was using this tiny teaspoon to slurp the hot liquid and he spent almost 20 minutes alternating between swirling it around his mouth, yapping his lips, and smacking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. Renjun kept expecting him to end his extensive ‘taste test’ with a coffee gargle, but in the end he only tinkle the teaspoon around the half empty cup while holding his nose so close to the coffee that everytime he exhaled, there were ripples going across the surface.

 

At the end of all that, he scribbled three words on his tiny notebook. _Acidic, caramel, honey._

 

Renjun only ever tasted liquified burnt sawdust but he made a quick correlation to the words and chimed in, “chocolate.”

 

“Great observation.” He jotted down the fourth addition while wagging his index finger to Renjun.

 

Renjun kind of hoped that they would resume the talk they had yesterday. He had practiced on what he would say to every questions that he thought could possibly be asked by Jeno, in front of his bathroom mirror during his shower the night before and when he brushed his teeth early this morning.

 

But Jeno was being uncharacteristically silent that day. Even in the bus he only quietly browsed around random restaurant reviews in Yelp. The only substantial thing he said to Renjun that afternoon was for him to, “take the far corner seat. I’ll put in our order.”

 

He stopped Renjun when he was in the middle of taking his wallet out of his backpack, “no need for that, it’s all covered by the magazine club.”

 

Renjun never knew the school’s magazine club has budget for making legitimate restaurant reviews. To be fair, the teacher mentor for that club is also a coffee junkie so Renjun guessed that after she heard what Jeno’s suggestion was, she took a few slips of money out of her own pocket and sent the boy off with a pat on his back.

 

In the middle of their very formal food journalistic outing, Renjun kind of hoped that Jeno would subvert his expectation and turned this _invitation_ into a _date._ But Renjun had started to suspect that it was never even an option in the first place.

 

“What do you think of the cappucino?”

 

No amount of mirror-prepping could prepare Renjun for this sort of coffee related questions. And at that moment, using his own freakishly tiny teaspoon, Renjun idly stirred the latte art into a blob of milky-brown foam to buy him time while he tried to find some kind of high-brow sounding bullshit to spout out.

 

“Too sweet?” He shrugged. “Too much… flair? Not enough content?”

 

Silence stretched for a little while until Jeno finished scribbling down the last of his notes before he agreed with Renjun’s statement, “I thought so too.”

 

Silence once more.

 

It was excruciating for Renjun to learn that _this_ was how their dynamic ended up being when they were taken out of the academic context. Heavy air and Renjun noisily slurping the foam off the surface of his coffee. Jeno tapping the end of his plastic pen on the wooden table. _Are we this hopeless,_ he thought, _is this the end of everything._

 

Renjun took occasional peeks through the thin curtain of hair over his eyes and saw Jeno propping his head on one arm, tilting it on an angle and he looked as if he was gripped in a faux concentration onto his open notebook. It was the type of concentration where your eyes would glaze over every 5 milliseconds because you were too distracted by the surrounding environment. And suddenly, Renjun found himself wishing to all the beings that exist in this universe and beyond to not let them end what hasn’t even started yet, not when he knew of the possibility that he could live in a version of his life where this sight, of Jeno scribbling nonsense on his notebook with a busy coffeeshop serving as an out-of-focus background, could be fully and exclusively _his_.

 

The sound of Jeno’s pen clacking against the wooden table was entering the obnoxiously loud territory and Renjun couldn’t take it anymore. The familiar buzz of caffeine has slowly rolled into his brain like a wall of fog in a humid night, and he couldn’t spend another second only sitting there while his heart was running around in break neck speed.

 

He has to say something.

 

“I…” It only dawned on him that he didn’t really know what he was going to say when he’d opened his mouth and the first word had just escaped from his throat, causing Jeno to swivel his head slightly around so that he was facing Renjun while still having it propped up by his arm.

 

The way his open palm was resting against his cheek gave Jeno this really childish pouty expression and Renjun felt utterly defeated. Mentally, physically… spiritually. Everything. He decided it was the perfect time to come clean.

 

“I’ve got something to tell you.”

 

To that statement, Renjun saw a twinkle flash across Jeno’s eyes and he somehow only got even more nervous because of that.

 

“This past few months that we’ve spent together have been really… really nice. Even though sometimes it takes you so long to understand even the simplest of concept,” Renjun’s flow was interrupted when Jeno let out a light chuckle in the middle of the sentence. He took a quick pause and Renjun found himself stirring his untouched coffee even more vigorously, “you’re still the best student a tutor can ever ask for and so studying with you has been fun and all. But… uh… I have to tell you something.”

 

Jeno was no longer using his left arm to prop his head. He’d folded said arm on the table and he was leaning heavily on it. The excitement on his lips, which has crawled to the corners of his eyes and turning his face into a tamer version of _the smile,_ was screaming for Renjun to keep on going.

 

“I… hate coffee.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the pun


	3. Q Graders

_“I… hate coffee.”_

 

Renjun was so nervous, and so pumped up with caffeine that he couldn’t wait for what would be considered as a normal ‘grace period’ for people to discern a shocking news, and interpreted Jeno’s silence as something negative. It caused him to instantly jump into a ‘defensive mode’ ramble,

 

“Wait, wait scratch that. I mean, it’s just _ok_ ok, I’m sorry, hate is a really strong word and I shouldn’t have used it but coffee man. Coffee. I don’t like it. Which is why you should delete all my comments earlier and not include it in your review because it’ll be an inaccurate representation of this… cafe.”

 

His rapid fire rant sizzled to an end when in the middle of it, Jeno suddenly broke off into a giggle. And as if he was sucking the energy out of Renjun’s babble, the volume of his laughter got louder and louder in conjunction to Renjun getting quieter and quieter. Until in the end Renjun had to gave him a piece of tissue to wipe off the laughter-tears from his face.

 

“I thought… I thought you'd say something really grave,” Jeno finally managed to wheeze out his words in between short gasping of air. And a few seconds later, after he’d taken at least 3 deep breaths and Renjun believed he’d seen the look of utter worry and confusion on his face, Jeno calmed down enough to continue, “why didn’t you tell me??? I feel so bad now,-”

 

“No, oh god no don’t feel bad it was totally my fault that,-”

 

“-all this time I never actually asked you what you wanted, right? Great job Jeno,-”

 

“-I didn’t have the heart to tell you because you’ve been paying and I don’t want to look ungrateful.”

 

“I’ve been paying?”

 

It was Jeno’s turn to look perplexed. And after the rapid banter they’ve just done, the quietness that followed as he scratched the back of his ears with the butt of his pen was jarring, “really? I _honestly_ never noticed.”

 

“Yes you have. Trust me. It really helps my financial situation.” Renjun had to avert his gaze when he saw the start of _the smile_ peeking through, like a cross blur transition from one emotion to another.

 

“It’s became my habit, I guess.”

 

Jeno went back to lean against the table, and his wiggling eyebrows forced Renjun to return his attention to him. Screw it. The low ambient lighting of this place _surely_ will hide the flushing of his skin.

 

“So, what is it do you like to drink? So that our future study sessions can be less… torturous for you to go through.” Renjun was about to protest for his word choice when Jeno stopped him abruptly, “I noticed those grimaces, you know. I always thought you were grimacing _to me,_ as in, what a chore it is to teach _me_. Thank god you’re grimacing to the coffee.”

 

The revelation was a surprising one for Renjun. What else did he notice, sitting in their usual spot, appearing to look at his book when maybe, in reality, he was not?

 

“I love tea.”

 

“What kind?”

 

“Earl grey.” Everything, truthfully. He loves every type. But earl grey sounded fancy enough to fit with the cafe they were in and thus Renjun picked that from his mind’s tea drawers.

 

“Wow we’ve talked so much for the last three months but I never would’ve known that if you didn’t tell me.” Jeno’s fingers began to tap the wooden table. The first thing that came to Renjun’s mind was _‘a life bait’_ and _‘he’s luring me to hold his hand’_ but then he realised what a crock full of wishful thinking that was and quickly shot the idea down. But still, the possibility has presented itself and was hanging low enough to entice his brain that was already laced with liquid confidence (the legal kind), that Renjun decided to settle on a middle ground. Putting his hands on the table, cupping it around his, well, his cup of coffee.

 

“Do you… have anything that you think I’ll never know unless you tell me about it?” If it was not for said liquid confidence, Renjun would not have gained the courage to ask Jeno that question. A tiny voice in his brain whispered, _‘maybe coffee is not that bad after all,’_ which he quickly silenced with a rebuttal, _‘this same effect can be achieved with me drinking coke. Shut up.’_

 

If the finger tappings might be Jeno’s bait, _this_ is Renjun’s bait. Trying to steer their conversation to yesterday’s topic with admirable level of subtlety, if subtlety is a flashing neon billboard sitting in the middle of an empty desert.

 

“I’m envious of you and your gang,” turns out, Jeno was just as bad at reading blatantly unsubtle context, because _that_ was not something that Renjun could ever imagine coming out of their current conversation, “I want to be able to hang around my friend’s house after school. All of my junior high friends live at the other side of the city and well, nobody got time for that kind of commute.”

 

“But I thought you are in a lot of these ‘gangs’?” Renjun said while using his fingers to form the air quotation mark. Magazine club, physics club, chess club, Jeno’s name goes around their school so often it was slightly weird to hear that he was envious of a kid whose only popularity cred comes from the fact that teachers had started calling him as one of _the_ _three musketeers._

 

(Donghyuk argued that he was Athos, because he’s cool like that. And Jaemin was all _I’m Aramis and nobody can tell me otherwise._ But that means Renjun was left with Porthos and he knows he’s _not_ a Porthos. It’s became a source of constant argument between him and Donghyuk over who actually deserves to be what.)

 

“Nothing like what you have with Jaemin and Donghyuk.”

 

Renjun forced himself to stay quiet for a period of time as he noticed that Jeno seemed to be closing up, pulling himself back a little bit while the smile on his face grew a little bit solemn. Giving the boy some moment of peace and a chance to savour the unearthed loneliness that always exist in a hidden corner of any public spots.

 

But still, Renjun could only do so much without risking his thigh bones falling off through their sockets from him shaking them against the ground too vigorously,

 

“We usually have a game night every Saturday. Do you want to join us? Maybe?” He spouted out the invitation with a far too wide grin on his face, “if you want to, that is.”

 

Renjun only noticed how stupid that suggestion was (see: Donghyuk) when Jeno returned his grin with an overly enthusiastic noddings of his head. He didn’t expect it to go this way. He didn’t expect for Jeno to be so excited with the premise of _‘finally getting to play the new Smash Bros with the legendary Na Jaemin.’_ There wasn’t even any tiny chit-chat bullshitery of _‘oh I’m afraid I’ll interrupt’_ or _‘no no no you won’t be’._ Jeno gratefully snatched Renjun’s offerings with both hands and ran away with it.

 

That left Renjun at the corner of Jaemin’s bedroom in a nice Saturday afternoon, silently hitting himself over his head while the newcomer in their golden trio, ‘ _the d’Artagnan’_ , Donghyuk whispered to him with mischievousness dripping down the corner of his grin, hogged the controler for two whole hours while Jaemin couldn’t stop crying out his rejoices because he finally found a,

 

“Worthy opponent. You’re a worthy opponent!”

 

“Then what am I?” Donghyuk would bear down on Jaemin time and time again. Hugging the boy, poking his arm, shaking Jaemin while putting up a really weird-looking pout on his face, all with the goal to somehow regain Jaemin’s attention back to him.

 

But all those efforts were extinguished with an easy shrug of Jaemin’s shoulders, “unworthy of my time.”

 

Renjun sometimes needed a reminder that it wasn’t only Donghyuk who is capable of delivering an ego breaking snark. Jaemin too, was capable. And even though Donghyuk will never admit it, Jaemin, when bothered enough to do it, is much, much more better at it than him.

 

“Jealous?” Renjun asked him when Donghyuk joined him at the _‘corner of the forgottens’_ , after the poor guy crawled there looking like a puppy denied of its treats.

 

Donghyuk only gave him a look that projected his feeling of unamusement, “I’m supposed to be the one to tell you that.”

 

They spent a few minutes silently leaning against Jaemin’s bookcase, checking their own respective phones while an occasional yell or laughter coming from either Jeno or Jaemin pierced through the sounds of the game the two of them were playing, until Donghyuk decided to no longer put up with this boring tragedy of a Saturday. His whole body seemingly lurching out with a sudden burst of mischievous intent.

 

Behind him, there was Renjun, leaning forward and filled with attention because he was so ready to tackle Donghyuk to the ground if he dared do anything out of line.

 

“Jeno, you’ve been hanging out with Renjun for quite a while right?” Donghyuk looked over his shoulder and practically ignored Renjun’s _‘don’t you dare’_ death stare with a poorly masked giggle. After they both heard an absent minded sounding yeah coming from the boy, Donghyuk continued on, “does he have any weird habits you want to share to us all?”

 

It was only a first degree offense in Renjun’s bible of _‘when to hit Donghyuk and when to just let him go with a stern look’_ and so Renjun decided to settle on the latter. Besides, Jeno finally looked away from the tv screen and was giving the forgottens a quick glance. Renjun was forced to behave.

 

“I think you two will have known everything,” he first gave a very wink-wink-nudge-nudge nod to Renjun, most probably referencing the tea conversation they have almost two days ago, before he wagged his tongue at Donghyuk, “or seen everything.”

 

Renjun almost found himself shouting _‘stop doing that right now’_ because he felt personally violated seeing Jeno do anything with his tongue so casually, as if he was clueless at what effect it brought upon Renjun’s mentality (to be fair, Jeno _was_ clueless). But it was stopped when after swiftly delivering a killing blow to Jaemin’s character, Jeno completely turned around and leaned slightly towards Renjun,

 

“But uh… he likes to mumble things to himself and oh! He likes to play with the lead of his mechanical pencil and trace the grooves on his erasers,” Jeno then put up his hand and went through a list of habits that Renjun never even thought about twice, or something so obscure it only ever happened once in the time they spent studying together. With each fingers he put down, the more flustered Renjun grew, and the more amused Donghyuk became. “He hums the Jurassic Park theme when he’s happy, he’s superstitious as hell, he hates the number four, and he knocks on the table three times everytime he read the clock and it says 4:44.”

 

There was a constant undercurrent of hesitation peeking through in between his words, and Renjun could see his eyes darting quickly between Donghyuk, Jaemin, and him. And was that the start of a blush creeping up from the collars of his t-shirt? Before Renjun could fully discern everything, Jaemin had slapped his open palm on Jeno’s arm and on they went to the tenth round, or probably more, of their match.

 

“I dare you to tell him on your way home,” Renjun felt his soul jumping out of his corporeal body when all of a sudden Donghyuk swooped in and whispered to his ears. When Donghyuk saw that Renjun was looking at him as if he all of a sudden stopped speaking intelligibly, he added, “man, the way he looked at you was not, and I repeat, _not_ something that a friend will do. Like, have I ever looked at you with those… those lovey dovey eyes? NO.”

 

Donghyuk literally yelled the word ‘no’ in his otherwise hush-hush sentence, that it cost him a really sharp hit on his leg. Courtesy to a very high-strung and surprised Renjun.

 

“Come onnnnn! Do it! You’ve been moping about this kid for the last year and I’m starting to get real tired of it,-”

 

“If I do it, you do it.”

 

“What do you mean I do it?”

 

 _Something_ was suddenly running within Renjun’s bloodstream. Something, that reminds him of the caffeine highs that he’d associated with Jeno’s presence in his life by this point. And this _something_ pushed him to square up against Donghyuk, an act he so rarely does because most of the time he was so unbothered by Donghyuk’s usually stupid dares and challenges. His gaze didn’t even falter, his offer of a handshake seemingly not going to go away anytime soon, and his _grin_ , his grin was blinding. It only grew wider when he saw the little crack on Donghyuk’s face was slowly spread across his playful facade after the boy realised what Renjun was talking about.

 

“You, Mark. Me, him,” Renjun tilted his head towards the person he was referring to, detailing the implications of their deal to a now minutely shaking Donghyuk, “this afternoon, I promise I’ll come out to him if you do too. Monday we regroup and report whatever shit happened. Deal?”

 

Renjun was feeling so brave at that moment. So giddy. So positive and bright and excited and reckless and sure that _hell, it’s only going to be words. It won’t be that bad, won’t it?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly the chapter names are super random and I apologise for that  
> ps: that HaeMin moment was not planned but now i have a strong urge to write about them LOL


	4. Coffee Cupping

Renjun was feeling so brave at that moment. So giddy. So positive and bright and excited and reckless and sure that  _ hell, it’s just going to be words. It won’t be that bad, won’t it? _

 

Tell that to your future self, Renjun. Tell that to him walking with Jeno back to the bus stop down the deserted roads of Jaemin’s housing area. The sky burning in an explosion of reds, pinks, blues, and anything in between, mimicking the colour of his face. The blue came from the bruise on his neck from this week’s physical education class, when Jaemin accidentally, ( _ accidentally,  _ he said, while trying to hold off his laughter) _ ,  _ threw a softball at the general vicinity of Renjun’s face. His reflexes were so dull he couldn’t do anything more than stare at the incoming hazard head on and let out a pained scream one beat after the ball made contact with his body.

 

Jeno was talking about this one game he’s been playing, about the story, and the characters, and the gameplay, and Renjun silently walked beside him, nodding his head and letting out occasional laughs when appropriate. Renjun likes games, but never to this extent, of following new releases from your favourite game developer and replaying a game more than twice just so he could get all the possible endings. It seems that the meeting between Jeno and Jaemin has caused for another of the former’s previously hidden passion to be unlocked. His gaming obsession has became a pursuable branch on the conversational tree. 

 

Although he found himself sort of stranded in the middle of a topic he didn’t fully understand, Renjun realised that he didn’t really mind at all. In fact, he loves it. He loves hearing the enthusiasm in Jeno’s voice, the brightness on his face, and how his hands would animate and fly all around the place when he was describing this game of his. 

 

“You can always join us,” it didn’t take long for them to reach the bus stop. Time always fly when your attention was not directed to the road you were walking on. “Help us entertain Jaemin. Donghyuk has nothing on you and I’m basically hopeless.”

 

The bus stop was empty aside from this one old lady and her shopping cart. It was a bit too late to do some shopping, in Renjun’s opinion, but who was he to judge. Jeno tapped the empty spot on the bench for him to sit, but Renjun was feeling restless, “it’s ok, I’ll stand. It won’t be long anyway.” 

 

“You don’t have to take the bus with me, you know,” Jeno said while crossing his legs and leaning slightly to the glass partitioning of the bus stop. Renjun’s house was only one stop away, and they both knew that walking the distance will result in Renjun reaching his home faster than if he was to wait for the bus. But the setting sun was framing Jeno’s profile perfectly and Renjun was too busy trying his best to not start hyperventilating to care about time and distances.

 

To that, Renjun took a deep breath. Letting the air circulate around his lungs before it was let out in one harsh exhale,

 

“I need to tell you something.” 

 

“Another one?” At the promise for knowing another hidden aspect of Renjun’s life, Jeno instantly perked up on his seat, “tell me. I love secrets.” 

 

“Remember the talk we had? The one at the cafeteria?” With his nerves starting to crawl up his shoulders and tickling the back of his neck, Renjun was too nervous to look anywhere near Jeno’s face. So he made the assumption that the boy had nodded to his question before continuing on, “I take it that you’re okay talking about… those kind of topics? Right?” 

 

Another silence, another assumption of a nod. 

 

“How about… the people. Are you okay? With… with…” 

 

“I’m okay.” 

 

Renjun had been watching his fingers fiddling with each other this whole time. The constant sight of his nails clacking against each other served as a calm and familiar grounding tool that when a strange set of hands popped into his field of vision, he was physically jolted out of a stupor he didn’t even realise he’d entered. 

 

Correct that. It wasn’t a strange set. It was Jeno’s. Jeno’s hand over his, gripping and squeezing the tension out of Renjun’s sweaty fingers.

 

The whole situation was taking a toll on Renjun’s psyche. The burden of coming out, the confusion over what he should feel with Jeno’s sudden hand-holding, the panic, when he heard the rickety sound of plastic against metal as the old lady stood up from her seat and the familiar rumbling sound that got louder with each passing second.

 

“The bus is here.” Renjun didn’t intend for his voice to come out so tiny, or so choked up. But he sounded like he has swallowed his own tonsils and it made the situation a tad bit worse.

 

“Let’s just get the next one.” Jeno once again patted the empty seat beside him and this time, Renjun relented and took it. He didn’t think his legs would be a fully supportive party for the rest of this revelation of his anyway. 

 

All the time Jeno didn’t let go. Even if it was only their index fingers linking together when Renjun was twisting and turning to find a comfortable sitting position, he didn’t let go. And although the gesture only amplified the weird, nagging pressure up his sinuses, it also somehow gave Renjun strength to unwrap all his words. He waited until the lady had boarded the bus and the familiar ping that signifies its departure rang through the peaceful streets before continuing on.

 

“I… like,- no, wait… I am attracted to boys. Yes.” All of a sudden, it felt like the drain to a semi full bathtub was pulled and you know those uncomfortably loud schlucking noise they made when air was trapped between the spiral of water? Renjun felt like his next info-dump sounded that way. Too loud, too quick, too weird and too discomforting. At least for him. 

 

“I don’t even know why I feel like I have to tell you this,”  _ aside from the fact that I’m hopelessly infatuated with you, _ “but you’re my friend now, not just my biology study buddy and because I can’t seem to live with the burden of… of keeping a secret from a friend, I feel like I have to. I’m sorry.” 

 

“Just a friend?” 

 

The silence that came next felt like forever. But forever came and went in five seconds. Forever was the time it took for Renjun to look up from their still tangled fingers to see the same look of recklessness on Jeno’s face as he had at that afternoon in the cafeteria. 

 

“What?”

 

“Do you see me just as a friend?” Jeno was blushing, furiously, at the top of his cheek, at the tip of his nose, and his lips, all pinks and reds that were pulled up into an awkward grin due to the way his cheeks were twitching, “I’m a bit offended with that.” 

 

_ How can Jeno look so beautiful while blushing?  _ He wondered. Renjun’s kind of blushing is red all around the periphery of his face while the center was sucked clean out of blood. His lips would turn a dangerous shade of purple while his ears would shine like two rubies under the dying light of sun. “W… what… what do you mean.” 

 

To the sound of his stuttering, Jeno let out a deliciously free and airy laugh, the kind that take the reins of Renjun’s heart, kicking it on its bum to make it start running even harder that it was before. “Me too,” he mumbled out the words after the laughter sizzled to an end while his fingers creeped higher and higher up Renjun’s hand. He was surprised how Jeno was not in the very least disgusted by how sweaty his palm was getting, not noticing that anything was out of place before he gave Renjun a very tight squeeze, “just like you. Exactly the same.”

 

There was a beat of quietness before Renjun suddenly snapped, “stop talking in riddles and codes,  _ holy shit,  _ what do you mean?!” 

 

As said before, nobody has ever seen Renjun as someone with fiery, or to make it milder,  _ unstable  _ temper. But after today, he finally figured out a new facet of his personality. In moments of high stress, he would turn into a ticking time bomb filled with crippling anxiety, chronic impatience, and unrestrained link between his thoughts and his vocal chord. 

 

The sudden outburst caused Jeno to stop in his tracks and to look at Renjun with eyes filled with shock. But when Renjun was about to somehow figure out a way to open a portal straight to hell for ruining an otherwise wonderful moment, Jeno saved the day by letting out a short and snappy laugh. The kind that brought out all the pent up nervousness from within him in four loud exclamations. It seemed as if after seeing Renjun ‘loosening up’, he’d decided to do the same and made both of their lives that little bit easier. 

 

“I like you!” He yelled out.  _ He yelled out.  _ “There. Happy?” 

 

“Not like ‘like’ _ ,  _ like? But like  _ ‘like’, like?” _

 

First a person with a fiery temper. Now a person who cries easily. What does his emotion wants from him, exactly? Renjun’s reaction after he saw the noddings of Jeno’s head to his very oddly worded question (it was no longer an assumption) was for his eyes to suddenly and involuntarily turn the knob on the spigots of his tear ducts and the next thing he knew, Renjun was crying his heart out.

 

Not a pretty cry, where he could easily wipe the edges of his eyes with a handkerchief or some other similar things. It was the ugly sobbing type, whose execution needed the collaboration of all the muscles of his body.

 

Renjun was apologising. Jeno was apologising. Their voices were mixed and blended together as Renjun was frantically wiping his tears and Jeno was panicking about what he must’ve thought as the biggest blunder in his life, that they’d lost track of who started it all and whose voice is it still ringing when it ended. 

 

It took him a while (five minutes and one long hug from Jeno, to be exact) to reach there but finally Renjun calmed down enough that he could return to his default position, with only occasional hiccups disturbing the calm atmosphere. Sitting in front of Jeno, fighting his defaulted habit that told him to avoid looking at the boy right on his face because that afternoon, Jeno was exceptionally beautiful. And Renjun will probably bring the regret to his death bed if he ended up associating this special occasion with the sight of his dirty pair of running shoes.

 

Through it all, their hands were linked. Even if it was only an index finger, hooked around a pinky or a thumb, they were still linked.

 

“I’m happy,” Renjun finally managed to blurt the simple statement out, after he spent almost a whole fifteen seconds stuttering on saying the word ‘I’. “Don’t know why I cried. Honestly. I’m happy.” 

 

The silence between them was suddenly different. Calm. Refreshing. With random bursts of Jeno’s soft giggles because apparently, he was just as happy as Renjun was at that moment. 

 

Too many happiness collected in one spot, at one moment, should not be a good thing. Renjun theorised that it will only attract all the bad things lurking at the periphery, acting as a beacon of hope or a blaring alarm that screams out  _ ‘prank me! I’m gullible!’ _

 

But their hands were squeezed together in between their knees, and he could see the puffs coming out of Jeno’s mouth, what with the drop of temperature in early spring nights. With that, Renjun couldn’t seem care less about his theories. Of coffees, teas, happiness… the deal with Donghyuk.  _ Oh dear, the deal.  _ Renjun has a feeling that Monday is going to be a  _ very _ fun day.

 

They didn’t know what they were doing next, or what they were planning to do (maybe they did, maybe they  _ definitely _ did. But nobody wanted to admit that they did and so they decided to stay silent). But they found themselves slowly leaning in, closer and closer, and it didn’t feel wrong. So Renjun allowed himself to go along with the flow. 

 

Jeno’s eyes fluttered to a close as their foreheads touched, right before a disappointed smile was formed when they heard the familiar rumbling and tires skidding round the corner of the road. “The bus is here.” 

 

Renjun had his eyes open throughout the ordeal, because as said before, he had this goal of imprinting the wonderful image of Jeno sitting on the bus stop framed with the beautiful colour of dusk onto his memory. And so he was at an advantage, because then he had a better chance at quickly eliminating the last tiny distance between them and plant a quick kiss on the corner of Jeno’s lips before they had to pry themselves apart. 

 

It’s a secret. A secret between the two of them that nobody needs to know. Yet. (At least until Monday. Because after that day, then it’s a secret known by four people.) 

 

Renjun couldn’t quell a smile when he saw Jeno taking a few seconds too long trying to open his eyes, blinking them a few times in confusion as if he was thinking  _ ‘what the hell just happened.’ _

 

_ What the hell indeed. _

 

“Can we get on the next one?”

 

“... yes. Of course we can.” 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can you believe I originally intended this to be a short 2k piece  
> but now I've fallen on the deep end in this NCTdream mess and i'm here /praying/ for the safety of Jisung's sonic blue hair LOL
> 
> ps: [this gifset](http://taeyounq.tumblr.com/post/151505489054/renjun-likes-jeno-more-than-moomin) is honestly the thing that fuelled this story. They're too cute send help


End file.
